Temperature dependent charge transport mechanisms in carbon sphere/polymer composites

Carbon spheres (CS) with diameters in the range $2 - 10 \mu m$ were prepared via hydrolysis of a sucrose solution at $200^o C,$ and later annealed in $N_2$ at $800^o C.$ The spheres were highly conducting but difficult to process into thin films or pressed pellets. In our previous work, composite samples of CS and the insulating polymer polyethylene oxide (PEO) were prepared and their charge transport was analyzed in the temperature range $80 K < T < 300 K.$ Here, we analyze charge transport in CS coated with a thin polyaniline (PANi) film doped with hydrochloric acid (HCl), in the same temperature range. The goal is to study charge transport in the CS using a conducting polymer (PANi) as a binder and compare with that occurring at CS/PEO. A conductivity maxima was observed in the CS/PEO composite but was absent in CS/PANi. Our data analysis shows that variable range hopping of electrons between polymeric chains in PANi-filled gaps between CS takes on a predominant part in transport through CS/PANi composites, whereas in CS/PEO composites, electrons travel through gaps between CS solely by means of direct tunneling. This difference in transport mechanisms results in different temperature dependences of the conductivity.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Chiral dynamics of hadrons in nuclei

In this talk I report on selected topics of hadron modification in the nuclear medium using the chiral unitary approach to describe the dynamics of the problems. I shall mention how antikaons, $\eta$, and $\phi$ are modified in the medium and will report upon different experiments done or planned to measure the $\phi$ width in the medium.Comment: 10 pgs, 3 figs. Invited talk in the Workshop on in Medium Hadron Physics, Giessen, Nov 200

Charmed mesons in nuclear matter

We obtain the properties of charmed mesons in dense matter using a coupled-channel approach which accounts for Pauli blocking effects and meson self-energies in a self-consistent manner. We study the behaviour of dynamically-generated baryonic resonances together with the open-charm meson spectral functions in this dense nuclear environment. We discuss the implications of the in-medium properties of open-charm mesons on the $D_{s0}(2317)$ and the predicted X(3700) scalar resonances, and on the formation of $D$-mesic nuclei.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, to appear in Proceedings of XIII International Conference on Hadron Spectroscopy, November 29 - December 4, 2009, Florida State Universit

Neutron and proton spectra from the decay of Λ\Lambda hypernuclei

We have determined the spectra of neutrons and protons following the decay of $\Lambda$ hypernuclei through the one- and two-nucleon induced mechanisms. The momentum distributions of the primary nucleons are calculated and a Monte Carlo simulation is used to account for final state interactions. From the spectra we calculate the number of neutrons ($N_n$) and protons ($N_p$) per $\Lambda$ decay and show how the measurement of these quantities, particularly $N_p$, can lead to a determination of $\Gamma_n / \Gamma_p$, the ratio of neutron to proton induced $\Lambda$ decay. We also show that the consideration of the two-nucleon induced channel has a repercussion in the results, widening the band of allowed values of $\Gamma_n / \Gamma_p$ with respect to what is obtained neglecting this channel.Comment: 30 pages, 12 Postscript figures, uuencoded file, ReVTeX, epsf.st

Theoretical uncertainties on quasielastic charged-current neutrino-nucleus cross sections

We estimate the theoretical uncertainties of the model developed in [J. Nieves, J.E. Amaro, M. Valverde, Phys. Rev. C 70 (2004) 055503] for inclusive quasielastic charged-current neutrino-nucleus reactions at intermediate energies. Besides we quantify the deviations of the predictions of this many body framework from those obtained within a simple Fermi gas model. A special attention has been paid to the ratio sigma(mu)/sigma(e) of interest for experiments on atmospheric neutrinos. We show that uncertainties affecting this ratio are likely smaller than 5%

Relativistic Treatment of Hypernuclear Decay

We compute for the first time the decay width of lambda-hypernuclei in a relativistic mean-field approximation to the Walecka model. Due to the small mass difference between the lambda-hyperon and its decay products---a nucleon and a pion---the mesonic component of the decay is strongly Pauli blocked in the nuclear medium. Thus, the in-medium decay becomes dominated by the non-mesonic, or two-body, component of the decay. For this mode, the lambda-hyperon decays into a nucleon and a spacelike nuclear excitation. In this work we concentrate exclusively on the pion-like modes. By relying on the analytic structure of the nucleon and pion propagators, we express the non-mesonic component of the decay in terms of the spin-longitudinal response function. This response has been constrained from precise quasielastic (p,n) measurements done at LAMPF. We compute the spin-longitudinal response in a relativistic random-phase-approximation model that reproduces accurately the quasielastic data. By doing so, we obtain hypernuclear decay widths that are considerably smaller---by factors of two or three---relative to existing nonrelativistic calculations.Comment: Revtex: 18 pages and 4 postscript figure

Chiral unitary theory: application to nuclear problems

In this talk we briefly describe some basic elements of chiral perturbation theory, $\chi PT$, and how the implementation of unitarity and other novel elements lead to a better expansion of the $T$ matrix for meson meson and meson baryon interactions. Applications are then done to the $\pi \pi$ interaction in nuclear matter in the scalar and vector channels, antikaons in nuclei and $K^-$ atoms, and how the $\phi$ meson properties are changed in a nuclear medium.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, Invited talk in the International Symposium on Nuclear Physics, Bombay, december 200

Chiral dynamics of baryon resonances and hadrons in a nuclear medium

In these lectures I make an introduction to chiral unitary theory applied to the meson baryon interaction and show how several well known resonances are dynamically generated, and others are predicted. Two very recent experiments are analyzed, one of them showing the existence of two $\Lambda(1405)$ states and the other one providing support for the $\Lambda(1520)$ resonance as a quasibound state of $\Sigma(1385) \pi$. The use of chiral Lagrangians to account for the hadronic interaction at the elementary level introduces a new approach to deal with the modification of meson and baryon properties in a nuclear medium. Examples of it for $\bar{K}$, $\eta$ and $\phi$ modification in the nuclear medium are presented.Comment: Lectures given in the Workshop on Hadron Physics, Puri (India), march 200

Chiral dynamics of p-wave in K^- p and coupled states

We perform an evaluation of the p-wave amplitudes of meson-baryon scattering in the strangeness S=-1 sector starting from the lowest order chiral Lagrangians and introducing explicitly the Sigma^* field with couplings to the meson-baryon states obtained using SU(6) symmetry. The N/D method of unitarization is used, equivalent, in practice, to the use of the Bethe-Salpeter equation with a cut-off. The procedure leaves no freedom for the p-waves once the s-waves are fixed and thus one obtains genuine predictions for the p-wave scattering amplitudes, which are in good agreement with experimental results for differential cross sections, as well as for the width and partial decay widths of the Sigma^*(1385).Comment: LaTeX, 18 pages, 6 figure

Chiral Symmetry and light resonances in hot and dense matter

We present a study of the $\pi\pi$ scattering amplitude in the $\sigma$ and $\rho$ channels at finite temperature and nuclear density within a chiral unitary framework. Meson resonances are dynamically generated in our approach, which allows us to analyze the behavior of their associated scattering poles when the system is driven towards chiral symmetry restoration. Medium effects are incorporated in three ways: (a) by thermal corrections of the unitarized scattering amplitudes, (b) by finite nuclear density effects associated to a renormalization of the pion decay constant, and complementarily (c) by extending our calculation of the scalar-isoscalar channel to account for finite nuclear density and temperature effects in a microscopic many-body implementation of pion dynamics. Our results are discussed in connection with several phenomenological aspects relevant for nuclear matter and Heavy-Ion Collision experiments, such as $\rho$ mass scaling vs broadening from dilepton spectra and chiral restoration signals in the $\sigma$ channel. We also elaborate on the molecular nature of $\pi\pi$ resonances.Comment: 14 pages, 14 figures. Contribution to Hard Probes 2008, Illa de A Toxa, Spain, June 8th-14th 200